CLSA featured in LA Times: Biomedical research would be hit by Trump’s proposed budget

Despite some good aspects, President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget includes cuts in biomedical programs that would cripple life science research and industry, said experts in San Diego and California’s biomedical economy.

“It’s a horrendous proposal,” said Eric Topol, M.D., a cardiologist-geneticist with Scripps Health. “It’s completely unacceptable. It can’t be defended … Every way you look at it, it spells trouble.”

The proposed cuts also come at a time when biomedical research has become extraordinarily productive in finding new treatments and insights into human health, Topol said.

Sara Radcliffe, president and CEO of California Life Sciences Association, said in a statement that the biomedical trade group is “deeply concerned with the administration’s requests related to public health and research priorities, including funding for the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health.”

NIH is the nation’s largest funder of biomedical research. The budget would fall 22 percent, or about $7.7 billion, to $26.9 billion. Nearly all of its component institutes would get a drop in funding.

— National Cancer Institute would get $4.47 billion a loss about $1 billion

— National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would get $3.78, a loss of $838 million

— National Institute on Aging is to get $1.3 billion, a loss of $294 million.

The budget does contain some new spending, including $207 million for the Department of Health and Human Services to respond in case of an influenza pandemic, an increase of $135 million.

Radcliffe praised the administration’s proposed repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, established with Obamacare. Radcliffe said the board “could harm biomedical innovation by reducing incentives for investment in new research and product development.